Belichick: Gronkowski and Amendola are “day-to-day”

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said Monday morning that he needs to improve his own game in order for the team’s offense to snap out of the struggles they’ve had in the first two games of the season.

That may be, but getting better results would likely be easier if Brady were able to throw the ball to tight end Rob Gronkowski and wide receiver Danny Amendola in addition to the players who were on hand for Thursday night’s victory over the Jets. Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported Sunday that Amendola will be out up to six weeks with torn adductors in his hip and a possible sports hernia injury that will require surgery.

Coach Bill Belichick answered a question about Gronkowski by saying that the team sees all of their injured players as “day-to-day” on a Monday conference call and then was asked if Amendola is more week-to-week because of the nature of his injuries.

“I’d say really all of our players are day-to-day other than obviously [running back Shane] Vereen. I know the rest of them we’ll just take it day-to-day,” Belichick said.

While it sounds like that might be optimistic about Amendola’s return, Gronkowski has been steadily ramping up his practice work and the extended time between the Jets game and Sunday’s matchup with the Buccaneers should nudge him even closer to a return. He’d likely be kept on a pitch count upon his return, but even a limited amount of Gronkowski would go a long way for the Patriots offense.

Are you on drugs? Every team was videotaping since it was legal to do so. Roger Goodell sent that memo about videotaping to every team in the NFL. If the Pats were the only team videotaping, then why did Goodell send that memo to every team in the NFL?

Because every team was videotaping. Every team cheats. And the Pats have been to the AFC Championship or Superbowl every year since 2007 so you really need to brush up on your facts.

The pats were taping coaches signals and walk thru’s. Totally different than thebtaping other teams do. Pats have got to be the luckiest team with their cupcake division giving them 6 wins a year.

CKL says:Sep 16, 2013 11:44 AM

scaredhitless says:
Sep 16, 2013 11:29 AM
Meanwhile Wes Welker is doing just fine!
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Really? Who thought he’d be doing well going to an offense with other weapons like what Den has so he can be used as a 3rd or 4th option? Wow…remarkable.

I think Gronk will be back before Amendola but who knows? After watching how nasty and tough the TB defense was yesterday, maybe Gronk should sit that one out too.

thegronk87 says:Sep 16, 2013 11:45 AM

@steelsskirt, it’s not like the steelers didn’t steroid their way to 6 super bowls.

denverwally says:Sep 16, 2013 11:45 AM

yes, Wes is just burning it up in Denver. 8 targets, 3 receptions, 3 clean drops, and a “gimmie” TD catch.

Wes will do fine but lets not act like he is the second coming of Jerry Rice. Amendola caught 10 out of the slot for the Pats two weeks ago. Edelman caught 13 out of the slot last week. Sense a patten here? Brady makes that slot position work.
Once the kids outside start cleaning up their reads, things will start chugging along again. They said have patience, and this will work out.

I suspect that Amendola may be fighting this particular injury well beyond his return to the field.

That said, the regular season is NOT the time for on-the-job training. The time is NOW for a re-union with Branch, Stallworth, and/or somebody else. In particular, I’m thinking of a member of the media who thinks he’s not a member of the media. He’s a future Hall of Famer who STILL has tread on his tires and, most important of all, can CATCH THE FOOTBALL.

denverwally says:Sep 16, 2013 11:50 AM

thesteelskirt says:Sep 16, 2013 11:42 AM

The pats were taping coaches signals and walk thru’s. Totally different than thebtaping other teams do. Pats have got to be the luckiest team with their cupcake division giving them 6 wins a year.
===========================
Get your facts straight. They never taped walk throughs, that was Matt Walsh BS and both he and the Boston Herald admitted so. Taping coaching signals was common, and even your own coach Cowher at the time said they knew it and didn’t care, it made not a lick of difference. Nice try Steeler, but the Pats whupped you over and over in the playoffs. Deal with it.
Are there bigger whiners than Steeler fans?

damnsureis says:Sep 16, 2013 11:53 AM

Isn’t one of the Gronkowski brothers a free agent? They should quietly sign him and put him on the field as a decoy. Give him one of those Tomlinson face masks.

azarkhan says:Sep 16, 2013 11:54 AM

Fortunately “BB” saved a TON of money by shafting Welker and signing Amendola. For some reason, however, the fact that Amendola missed 22 games in 4 years apparently never figured into his calculations.

BTW, Danny Woodhead had 8 receptions against the Eagles yesterday. With Vereen out, it sure would be nice to have Danny coming out of the backfield. But I guess he was also too expensive to re-sign, so now he’s helping the Chargers win.

Day-to-day: Can someone translate this to normal language. Is this worse then Belichick’s probable?

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That’s easy. It means that, while BB will talk to you, he will tell you nothing.

(oYo) Chesticles (oYo) says:Sep 16, 2013 12:01 PM

Spygate is about the lamest thing anyone can use to insult the Pats at this point. Seriously, they have been better since Spygate, sure they havent won the Super Bowl, but guess what? Wait for it, winning the Super Bowl is HARD… If Welker doesnt drop a pass that hit him in both hands, they win a 4th SB. If Samual doesnt drop a pick that hit him in both hands, Tyree never makes “the catch” and we are talking about a 5th SB.

The people arguing about how Spygate helped the Pats is like people arguing about PED use. A person “accused” of PED use cant prove they never took PEDs. The Pats cant prove it didnt help anymore than you can prove it did. The lame argument that “if it didnt help they wouldnt have been penalized so severely” is weak at best. They were penalized for violating the rule, they werent penalized for what the rule violation may have gained them. Like 2 guys who rob a bank, there arent different levels of illegal. A poor guy robs a bank, that money obviously helps him tremendously. A rich guy robs a bank, and that money doesnt help much because he is already rich. So that argument basically says the punishment for the poor guy is more severe because the extra money helped him more… Like I said, lame.

As far as the Pats offense (or “owe-fence as Gannon would say), getting Amendola, Vereen and Gronk back would offer a huge lift to the Pats offense for several reasons. 1, Edelman is good, but he isnt “great”, he isnt going to carry the team, and if he is expected to do so, they will lose, and he will get hurt. Amendola appears to be on the same page as Brady, and he makes the catches that Welker couldnt (I love Wes, but in 6 seasons it was clear he was great at routine plays, and average at best on the difficult ones. In week 1, Welker only catches half of the balls that Amendola caught in Buffalo). Getting Gronk back, again gives Brady a target that is on the same page, but it also stresses the defense, giving the rookies more room to work and less pressure. The problem with the Patriots offense isnt the rookies specifically, it is simply the fact that the whole offense is driven by rookies. If Brady had Gronk, Amendola, Hernandez, Vereen and one or 2 of the rookie receivers, they are scoring 28 per game and we arent having this discussion.

After 2 games, the Pats offense is TERRIBLE!!!!!!! But they are correctible problems. In 8-10 weeks this offense will be where it needs to be, but right now is ugly

azarkhan says:Sep 16, 2013 12:04 PM

thegronk87 says: Wes did not play great yesterday.

You’re missing the point. Wes doesn’t have to play “great” anymore. The Broncos have fine young receivers like Eric Decker and Demaryious Thomas, so of course Welker’s receptions will go down (although he caught another TD yesterday).

The point is that if Welker was still with the Patriots instead of the often injured Amendola, the Patriot offense wouldn’t be on life support, struggling to make 9 first downs (only 9!) against the lowly Jets.

fordmandalay says:Sep 16, 2013 12:06 PM

Amendola done for the year. Maybe career.

notoriousjebus says:Sep 16, 2013 12:09 PM

For 2012 the patriots had 402 total receptions. They entered training camp,this year, with the receivers of 299 of those passes no longer on the roster and 55 catches from Gronk not available for the first several weeks of the years.

I don’t get how the Patriots could assume that if you lose/let go of players that caught 88% of all your passes last year you could just replace them with a handful of young players and be all good.

mj2sexay says:Sep 16, 2013 12:11 PM

metintodd says:
Sep 16, 2013 11:37 AM

And the Pats have been to the AFC Championship or Superbowl every year since 2007 so you really need to brush up on your facts.

LOL. Typical Pats fanboy. Amazing that you guys made it to the AFC Title game in 2008 despite missing the playoffs!

(oYo) Chesticles (oYo) says:Sep 16, 2013 12:11 PM

azarkhan, you might also be missing the point. Welker has made it quite clear that he had no interest in a new contract with the Pats. He used the Patriots (wisely) to get Denver to raise their offer. He was never coming back. He left New England for Denver, for LESS money. Having a hard time figuring out how Belichick is at fault, when a player made a decision to leave for less money. It isnt like he got $15 mil in Denver and Belichick offered $3 million. Belichick offered a deal that could have given Welker $18 mil (if memory serves me) and he decided $15 mil in Denver was better than $18 mil in New England

Yes Tom Brady is a great QB but the Pats formula for finding disgruntled vets to work for cheap has come and gone. How long have they been trying to rebuild a defense? Not so easy when the vets you get are soft.

The pats were taping coaches signals and walk thru’s. Totally different than thebtaping other teams do. Pats have got to be the luckiest team with their cupcake division giving them 6 wins a year
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For the record, the AFC East has a total record of 6-2 this year.

AFC North will be 2-6 after tonight.

strokinmyego says:Sep 16, 2013 12:15 PM

Slot receiver isn’t the problem for the Patriots offense. Edelman and Amendola have each matched or exceeded what Welker would have done in each of the first two games of the season. Welker will have a game changing drop in the postseason I promise you that.

The Patriots need Gronk and they need these rookies to improve as the year goes on. It’s only September, people need to relax. The NFL season is a long one and some teams will get better as the year goes on while others will get worse. The last three Super Bowl winners had records of 10-6, 9-7, and 10-6. It’s not how you start but how you finish.

The Patriots offense will be get better as the year goes on. The rookies are getting open. They just need time to take in the mental and fundamental side of football.

Combine Gronk and Amendola as well as a returning Vereen with a couple of explosive rookies who went through early season growing pains and you have a heck of a offense on your hands.

tigerlilac says:Sep 16, 2013 12:15 PM

Reality bites if you are a Patriots hater:

The AFC East (AKA the AFC Least) is 6 and 2 after two weeks with the only losses being to the Patriots, the division leader. AFC East teams are 4 and 0 against opponents outside their division.

Future FIRST-BALLOT-HALL-OF-FAMER Tom Brady (AKA the quarterback that is over the hill and a bad person because he is too demonstrative on the field) has won his first two starts despite stats that are well below his normal production and numerous offensive weapons hurt or no longer on the roster.

Future FIRST-BALLOT-HALL-OF-FAMER Bill Belichick (AKA the “Cheater”, the man consumed by hubris, the former defensive genius with the worse defense in the NFL) has won his first two games of the season despite offensive stats that are well below his team’s normal production. Only 5 of 24 NFL teams that have played two games to date have given up less points than the Patriots.

tigerlilac says:Sep 16, 2013 12:25 PM

Excuse me, only 5 of 30 NFL teams that have played two games to date have given up less points than the Patriots (only the Steelers and Bengals have played just 1 game).

thegronk87 says:
Sep 16, 2013 11:46 AM
Wes did not play great yesterday.

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He did manage to put on his uniform, get unto the field of play, catch some passes and even scored a touchdown. Kids will be getting “trick or treat” candy before Amendola does any of those again.

michiganhockey11 says:Sep 16, 2013 1:08 PM

Hmm- your #1 and #2 tight ends are day-to-day with injury recovery and on charged with murder.

Seems to me you might want to look into a tight end. Who might be available that would fit the role of that position? You’d need somebody that knows how to run ok routes and someone with pretty decent size and strength.

What free agent could they pick up for that role……….Maybe someone they cut recently?

I have no idea how the patriots are going to pull themselves out of this 2-0 hole their in.

giantssb42champs says:Sep 16, 2013 1:23 PM

The Patsies will still win a VERY weak AFC Least. That said I don’t see them getting past the Broncos in the playoffs unless they pull some rabbits out of BB’s ass.

surfinbird1 says:Sep 16, 2013 1:25 PM

The way I understood it was that Wes got the offer from Horseface, came back at Pats. to match the offer not better it,but the Pats. had ALREADY signed Danny A. All this aside,the fact of the matter is,if the Pats really wanted Wes to be a Paroiot. he would be a Patriot,period.

Day-to-day: Can someone translate this to normal language. Is this worse then Belichick’s probable?

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That’s easy. It means that, while BB will talk to you, he will tell you nothing

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Winner!!!

harrisonhits2 says:Sep 16, 2013 1:38 PM

thesteelskirt says:

The pats were taping coaches signals and walk thru’s.
_________________

Numerous teams did sideline taping prior to 2006 and several coaches are on record saying they did so. Jimmy Johnson is on record saying he stopped sideline taping because he felt he got no benefit from it.

If you think doing so made any significant difference you don’t know very much about football.

They never taped walkthroughs. That was story made up by John Tomase at the Herald that bspn ran with, and they had to retract because there was zero proof or evidence.

Belichick is a lot of things including a tool to most of the time. But, he is also one of the foremost experts on the game. He has strong well thought out opinions as to how things should be done for the good of the league. (Yes, he cares very much) When all the teams were warned about taping, he replied the way most a logical man could. OK, change the rule! Pretty simple?

Don’t send a memo. Don’t send your HQ lackies in suits from team to team all hush hush, just change the rule in the rule book. Seems simple enough. If your not going to change the rule, bleep off.

See the owners didn’t want the subject on the league meeting agendas, for fear it would get out that all the teams had been taping each other for years, and highlight how they (the owners and Competition Committee) have ignored it because they were afraid acknowleding it existed would reflect so poorly on the shield and them. So Belichick called BS and said fix it the right way or go bleep yourself. Of course, he paid dearly for chucking the league the bird based on principle, but he was and remains right.

If you have ever heard him speak in detail about the use of instant replay, you know exactly what I mean. Basically, he said it would be pretty easy to get it right.. but if you are not going to do it right why even bother.. Just do it right, or forget it.

What he did not say at least publically, is “they” (the owners and networks) don’t want to pay for it. That would mean placing fixed position high def camera’s in the same critical locations at every stadium. (as many as 10 or 12 camereas per site)

tedmurph says:Sep 16, 2013 2:14 PM

I think the Pats realized since 2007 that having a record setting offense and a bad D wasn’t gonna get it done. I think they tried to build for more balance. I think they went in with a decent plan. Replace Welker with Amendola and increased production from Edelman. Replace Woodhead with Vereen. Replace LLoyd(who had the quietest 900 yrds I’ve ever seen) with some young players to provide a couple of deep/outside threats. Now, you have Hernandez and Amendola out(you could argue they should have seen those coming, but it’s moot), Vereen hurt and now the rookies have to grow up fast. I’m still hopeful they’ll get their injured vets back and able to play at a high level, the rookies will benefit from the accelerated curve, and the D, although they haven’t played anyone, will be a lot better than last yr. A lot of ifs and buts, I know. That’s why it should be a fun yr to watch. I still think the Pats are in the mix, but I’m a fan.

Laugh at people that say, ‘why don’t they go sign a FA’? Like who? Branch, TO, Moss, LLoyd? LFitzgerald isn’t out there on the street, there’s a reason these guys are. Stay the course, see what happens. They’ll prob be some growing pains aganst the high powered teams early, like ATL and NO.

Fortunately “BB” saved a TON of money by shafting Welker and signing Amendola.
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Pats offered Welker 3 years 24 million before the franchise tag year. His agent wouldn’t consider it. Pats’ final offer was 2 years $10 million guaranteed, plus incentives, non-negotiable. Welker went to Denver, Pats signed Amendola. Welker ends up with less guaranteed money (only 1 year) and the Broncos can cut him in 2014 to save $6 million.

It is hard not to watch Denver and not realize that John Elway and John Fox have constructed the Patriots offense. Circa 2007.

As a Patriots fan … yesterday’s manning bowl was hard to watch … I actually had to turn off the game … I got jealous … I am dreading Thanksgiving and I am calling it right now that Denver and in particular Welker is going to come into Foxboro and absolutely light up the Patriots …

I am thinking that the executives at NBC are trying to find a way to get a better game on Primetime… This is going to be payback for the beating the Pats gave the Tebow led Broncos two years ago in the playoffs…

I don’t know what he’s smiling about. This team sucks. I havn’t been so happy since Brady went down with a blown out knee. Then Cassel playing just as good coming off the bench pissed me off but also proved my point that TB is just a system QB and now a days just a game manager incapable of completing 50% of his passes and scoring more than 14 points.

No matter how bad this season gets … NE will never the the Jets… it is bad right now… but it will never be that bad… you have my condolenses.

forsbergler says:Sep 16, 2013 4:45 PM

@ (oYo) Chesticles (oYo)
I’m sorry but your 2 page article you decided to write about SPYGATE was idiotic. It may help your fellow pats fans feel better about it but to all the teams your Pats cheated out of a chance at a SB (whole AFC and NFC Super bowl teams) don’t forget that easily. Your team DID tape Superbowl walkthroughs, utilized a secondary illegal helmet frequency to pass Def calls to Brady up until the snap of the ball. They mic’d there players during practices with other teams during the pre season. Jammed opposing teams helmet communications. This was all on top of taping Def signals. Your moronic OC Josh McDaniel got fined in Denver for trying to pull stupid cheap practices…hmmmmmm…Bill Belichick prodigy…what a coincidence…I wonder where he learned it? Nice damage control but…..
FAAAIIIILLLL!!!!!

forsbergler says:Sep 16, 2013 5:05 PM

For all these pats fans going on about what they need, once again I’ll help you out understanding your own team.

OFFENCE
#1 thing 1st you need 2 Dominant TE…you still have one that’s injury prone…have fun finding another like Hernandez….him murderinig that dude was the worst thing that could of happened to your team. This alows you to run the ball very effectivly which sets up the PA deep passes and wide open Seam routes to the TE created by the 5 yrd drag routes welker used to run all day.

#2 you need a deep threat like you had in Moss back in the day…you’ve been plugging in guys to take over the job but none have the size and speed you need.

#3 you need 2 key possesion recievers…i.e. welker….branch’s..troy brown type……but by the way you treat your superstars on this team none of them want to play for this team after a few years….I can’t figure out why?….(ask eldeman after)

Right now you have 2 posetion recievers that arn’t even very good

DEFENCE

You need pass rush
Nicovich aint gonna cut it…you guys ain’t getting any pressure and your NT Wilfork is only good at run stopping

You need great LB’s….you have 1 in nickovich…that leaves 3 that suck in your out dated 3-4 Def your still playing

You need shutdown Db’s….you have 1…Talib…your safties are terrible getting burnt all day and your other DB suck

This is why your team sucks….It’s a system team and you don’t have the players to play the system.

It’s also evident forsburglar that you don’t know jack about the patriots. Among other things, they have been playing predominantly 4-3 for the last three years. But they are a game plan team with versatility in their offense and defense, so they can attack each team they play differently depending on their opponents strengths and weaknesses. A lot of teams have a similar approach.

But whatever, it’s a pretty simple “system” that they use to be the most dominant team since 2000. Maybe you should get a job as a GM and implement this easy system. I’m shocked no one else has figured this system out already, so they too can have a .700 winning percentage year after year.